eee On Wings of Hope olume 23 Issue 1 Project Hope Jan. > War, 2019 5 ke ef theo THANK YOU! This may well be the most challenging article that ! have written in the past 18 years but one | do want to write because it is very important to me to say thank you to all of you. However what | will not attempt to do is to call names because if | did it right you know how much so ‘many of you, both on the inside and what we call on the street, have meant to me and will forever mean to me. ‘And now to the question of how | would like to be remembered, At the risk of repeating myself because I know | have already said that to many of you, I would like to be remembered as someone who was incredibly fortunate. To begin with as | have already s: for many years, my life was never boring. Does that mean it was particularly easy, of course not as there are not many lives that are. | was fortunate because I was able to meet the challenges that came my way, perhaps in part because | believed that there were many things worth doing even if one couldn’t do them perfectly. One of my most treasured compliments came from a well known Atlanta attorney who introduced me as being relentless. Yes, ! like that and that certainly helped with my being fortunate. Maybe the other component was that | always received what I gave many times over. | was never a victim but did whatever I did because it expressed me and rewarded me. So how fortunate can one get? | believe also that | was fortunate because | had enough sense to go to those places where things were real: Death row, people with aids, the nursing home, the homeless, the developmentally delayed, addicts, the Haitian community in Boston and the psychiatrically ill. | was very fortunate! And finally | was fortunate because the people in my life, yes you who is reading this, allowed me to succeed. What do | mean by that? | mean that you found what I brought to the table was good enough. | thank you for that and will be forever grateful to all of you, and if | have done it right you know who you are. EstherPROJECT HOPE TO ABOLISH ‘THE DEATH PENALTY (phadp) 501 (C) 3) non-profit MISSION STATEMENT Working together with fiends, supporters and “other advocates to educate ‘the public and bring about the abolition of Capital Punishment in Alabama, NATIONAL OFFICE: PO. Box 14027, Jacksonville, FL 32238 Ena againsteahrows @gmailcom Web: worw.phad org Email group: phap-ail-subseribe yahoo com also 09 Face Book Project Hope to Abolish the Death Penalty in Alabama BOARD OF DIRECTORS Anthony Tyson, Chairman Bart Jobson, Vice Chairman Jeffery Lee, See,/Treas ‘ese Philips, Coordinator ‘Anthony Boyd, Set At Arms Info Dir. Randy Lewis EXECUTIVE COMMIT ‘Anthony Tyson, PresJCEO Bart Johnson, Vice Pres. Brita Slopianks, Executive Director DEVELOPMENT: Brandon Fountain Executive Director Emeritus: Esther Brown, STUDENT REP: Petra Jackson SPIRITUAL ADVISOR: Donald Blocker BOARD OF ADVISORS Atty. Bryan Stevenson, [ty Christine Lichtenels, Callie Greer Atty: Kacey L Keeton, Assistant Federal Defender Robert M Wilson, dy Collins, Claudia Whitman, Robin DeMoni ‘Aan Williams, Ursula Malchau, Gary Drinkard; Shelley Douglass, Dr. Katie Owens-Murphy THIS NEWSLETTER WAS WRITTEN, TYPED AND FORMATTED ON DEATH. ROW AT HOLMAN PRISON, -On Wings of Hope Dear Family and Friends, I hope that this year has started off well for you all. As you know, on Feb 7th the state of Alabama killed our brother Domineque Ray. He will forever be remembered as our brother. On Oct. 1, 1998 I arrived at Holman. And did I think 203 years later that I would still be here, NO! I came in thinking that this night~ mare would be reversed sooner than later. But here I am. I arrived here at the age of 27 but I grew up, matured, here on Liferow. I have so many people that I could thank, some still here, but a lot have been murdered by the state, Throughout the years, I have met a lot of good men and each execution was diff- erent for me. But there was only one that truly hurt to the core of my soul. I still talk in prayers to my brother Derrick Mason, He was a true brother in every definition of the word. I became a member of the sub-board of PHADP in 2005, and within a couple of years I became a part of the board, and began the Jaw class under the umbrella of PHADP. So, for over 10 years now, I have faithfully put in work for the guys here on the row and my fellow brothers of the board. I became a member of the board under the reign of Darrell Grayson, and 2 other Chairmen followed before I was voted in by my peers. I have totally learned a lot over the past couple of years and I look forward to learning even more but my term as Chairman and board member has run its course. I will continue to teach the law.class and write articles for the news~ letter. This will be my last editorial in the Chairman's seat, but not my last article. I truly enjoyed being your, the readers and supporters, chairman and I look forward to a bright future for PHADP. And I leave you all in great hands, whoever is elected to the seat. And please know this, we will always be family. I truly appreciate all of the advisory board members, past and present. As well as our donors who kept us financially able to do the things that we do here. And a special thank you goes out to Britta Slopianka for stepping up to become our Executive Director. We can't say thank you enough. My last request to all of the supporters of Hope is Please Vote! Please Vote! Please Vote! The USSC voted 5-4 to lift the stay and executed Domineque. Please Vote! Your Chairman Anthony Tyson Z-641PHADP Family, Friends, and Allies, At this time, we would like to take a brief moment to inform all of you about a couple of transitional things concerning our organization. As many, or all of you, already know, Esther Brown had to step down as our Executive Director due to health reasons. We are all very saddened about this news. Since her stepping down, we have elected Esther's longtime friend and death penalty advocate Britta Slopianka as our new Executive Dir~ ector, and our home office has been relocated to Jacksonville, Florida. However, we are sure that all of you have noticed that Esther has continued to be Esther (smile), and continues to be very active and visible in our organization, and the anti-death penalty community. That is due to the fact that Esther loves to "have her ducks in a row." She's working to make sure that our transitional period is as smooth as possible. That's just Esther being Esther! (smile) We thank all of you for your patience, understanding, and continued support. Please know that there's no us without all of you. Continue to be the other voice, Keep Hope Alive, Project Hope to Abolish the Death Penalty Project Hope to Abolish the Death Penalty P.O. Box 14027 Jacksonville, FL 32238 againstdeathrows@gmail.com - www. phadp.org Project Hope to Abolish the Death Penalty is an interfaith 501 C 3 ‘organization whose mission is to educate and mobilize communities to act to abolish the death penalty in Alabama. PHADP relies on YOU for support. Suggested donations: $25/individual, $40/household, and $100/congregation, or whatever amount is affordable. Checks should be made out to "PHADP” and sent to the above address. Donations may also be made by going to our website and clicking on “donate”.